The Prince's Confession
by Half-BloodPrincess08
Summary: Now a hunted man, Severus Snape pays a visit to Hermione, and regails her with his side of what happened at the end of her 6th year at Hogwarts. Told from Hermione's point of view. Disregards book 7. One shot. Reviews very much appreciated.


**Author's Note- I own none of these characters. Nope, not me. I hope you enjoy- kind of angsty I know, but I like angst, so here we go...**

After Voldemort's downfall at the hands of Harry Potter, the Ministry of Magic's reputation was lacking, to say the least. Yes, the outcome of the war changed how wizard-kind viewed everyone from Ministry officials to members of the Order . Harry was now seen as a hero among heroes, and the entire Ministry was seen as a bunch of bumbling idiots, which, I always thought, they were.

Albus Dumbledore, now the tragic martyr, would have had the world at his fingertips, if only he could have survived long enough to see it. However, I should have known how the Ministry would soon use this newfound respect for our late headmaster to their advantage as well, like they had done with so many other things.

The killer of Albus Dumbledore was Severus Snape, this was never questioned. After all, the hero had witnessed it first hand. I found it bitterly funny how there was a time when anything Harry Potter said was immediately written off as rubbish, and now, his word was practically law. But with more and more Death Eaters slipping through the Ministry's fingers everyday, it made sense that they would mercilessly torture and torment the one known Death Eater they did have in custody. This was their way of boosting morale, as it were. Snape was their trophy, a symbol of the Ministy's power.

Finally, when they had had their fun, it came time for the trial. There ended up not being one, due to the evidence being "overwhelming." Severus Snape was sentenced to death, and no one cared to hear his side of the story.

I must admit, there was a time when I was not sure I cared to either, but I suppose it didn't really matter to him that I wasn't sure I wanted to hear it, because he needed to explain himself to someone. I'm not really sure I'll ever know why he chose me; he said it was simply because I was "...the only one in my class with half a brain," but maybe there was something more to it than that. He saw a connection between us that I had never noticed. It was only once he began pooring his very soul out to me that I realized I was destined to recieve it.

---

He apparated into my room at the Hog's Head a few nights before he was arrested. I was shocked, at best; Snape had been on the run for more than a year. Imagine my suprise when my old professor just dropped in on me one night. He said we needed to talk. I replied that there was nothing to talk about; I was trying my level best to remain calm. Since everyone believed him to still be loyal to the Dark Lord, I'd like to think I had good reason to be afraid.

I tried my best to fix an expression of bravery, and perhaps nonchalance on my face, but it was no use. Everyone always said Snape had eyes that could bore into your very soul. I knew better now; I knew it was actually my mind he was boring into, and it was evident he could see my fear. I decided being upfront was the best way to go; perhaps then he wouldn't be able to hide behind sly comments.

"What do you want?"

He suddenly looked tired and worn, older than I had ever seen him. As he sunk down into a nearby chair in front of fire, he had the look of a man who had been to hell and back, only to find that heaven does not exist.

"I didn't want to do it, you know. I had no choice." He gazed into the fire as if in a trance. "Dumbledore always used to talk to you children about the importance of choice in your lives. That night I had no choice. No glorious moment to decide whether I wanted to be a force for good or evil in this world." He chuckled and, if possible, sunk even lower into the chair. "I never would have thought it possible, but that night I suppose I was both."

I couldn't decide whether I was more shocked by his sudden honesty, or by the fact that I had just heard Severus Snape chuckle. He had dropped every pretense he had ever possessed, in front of me.

He went on to explain how Dumbledore had forced him to make an unbreakable vow sighting that he would do whatever it took to keep his cover with Voldemort, for the good of the Order. Unfortunately, he would go on to make another unbreakable vow, this one bonded him to Narcissa Malfoy. He promised to kill Dumbledore to save Draco's life, should he fail to do the job himself.

"Dumbledore knew there were certain things I would never do, unless forced. He also knew the meaning of sacrifice and the reprecussions the sacrifice of his life would have in the war." He sighed.

"I told him of all the Dark Lord's plans and begged him to allow me to accompany Potter to retrieve the locket, while he went into hiding. He replied only by saying that things would happen as they were meant to happen, because they always did."

Now sitting across from him I could see the fire dancing carelessly in his black eyes. Eyes that would soon lose all capabilities to reflect light, as they would lose their life and the master behind them.

When he spoke again it was in an almost inaudible whisper. Merely a shadow of his once commanding voice.

"I believe he knew he was going to die. And he knew that his death would give Potter the strength he so desperately needed to defeat the Dark Lord. I was Dumbledore's tool; I suppose I should be proud of that, but I am not. There are moments when I desperately wish I had not taken his life from him. I can't help but think that, despite Dumbledore's wishes, the world would not be in the disarray it is in if I had just let him live. He was such a terribly good man."

At these words he closed his eyes, and a solitary tear ran down his cheek. I too felt my eyes well, and reached out to grasp his hand in my smaller one. I knelt in front of his chair so that we were at eye level. Of its own accord, my free hand made its way to his face and brushed a strand of black hair out of his face. His eyes refused to meet mine, even as I found my voice and began to speak softly and calmly, as though to a frightened, caged animal.

"If you had not followed Dumbledore's orders, there might not have been enough of a world left to be in disarray."

A short while passed before anymore words were said. He gave a soft squeeze to my hand and looked down at it, as if just now noticing I was there. For the first time that night, he finally looked up and his careworn eyes met my concerned ones. I was shocked by what I saw. Never in all my life had I seen such a torrent of emotions in one person's eyes. I was suddenly face to face with a man who had lived, loved, hated, rewarded, damaged, amused, annoyed, mistreated, laughed, killed, and was now condemned.

"I wish you to speak of this to no one. No one would believe this fantastic tale anyway."  
The sarcasm in his voice almost frightened me as he went on.

"I do not want you to be ridiculed and hunted as I have been."

"But maybe if I just-"

"Everyone knows Severus Snape is a murder!" He lept off the chair and turned away from me. I could see he was shaking now.

"Everyone knows he is a murderer... a traitor, and a- ... a coward."  
He spat the last word not as if he was talking about himself, but as if he was cursing his deepest enemy.

Still facing the opposite direction, he muttered an apology for "...burdening my mind with such things." Then, in one last moment in which our eyes met, he turned where he stood, and vanished into nothingness.

---

As I stood there, watching helplessly as life slipped from his body, my mind flooded with a thousand protests and pleas. Some of them were outrageous, I knew, but the most shocking one of all was the one that ended with "…and take me instead!"

_Take me instead?_ Why should I even think something like that? I was completely innocent! Then a terrible thought eased into my mind; _so was he._

Severus' only crime was that he obediently followed every one of Albus Dumbledore's commands. How could anyone have known that single act of loyalty would result in both of their deaths?


End file.
